Description I had a feeling last night that the sunset might be good. So, despite the price of gas, I headed west, to the country and farms and the fields. Of course I had a late start so I was rather in a hurry to find a good spot, which meant I could not find it. I think my nose led me, however, right to where I wanted to go. Lots of open skies for taking in the entire horizon. The dirt road was pretty muddy and the fields even muddier, but they had all been plowed and the rows ran at just such an angle to the road as to make things interesting to the photographer's eye. I watched the sky turn all the colors of the spectrum from red to violet and back again and not stopping at any point in between. Just lingering long enough for me to notice but too well for any camera lens to capture. Almost never do I take liberties with a work, but this one needed some help to bring out the beauty. I pumped up the color, but not that much. I did do a lot of old fashioned dodging and burning, for one thing to make the road and the field visible. They had been completely dark, but the raw material was there. I dislike posting sunsets because- please forgive me-- I feel like they're something that's almost cheating to do. With this one, anyway, I think God did all the work.

Brenda LeitowMember Since October 2009Artist Statement Photography is one of the most essential things to a happy life, in my world. Every time I get out my camera I go out and bathe myself in light and color and line and texture... and everything in the world around me. Photography is a very emotional art for me. When I take photos in the rain, or in the morning dew, or when the light gets soft near sunset, or sharp at sunrise, the light creates such an atmosphere that I can almost feel the colors melting right into my being, creating their lasting impressions. My job as an artist is to capture colors, not always as I see them, but also how I imagine them to be. I manipulate light and color to my desire. It's rather like a prism, bending the light, showing color. Only as a photographer I bend the light less precisely, leaving some breathing space for the light to find its own path. The light creates itself in that way, taking away my control, and does amazing things with color that never even occurred to me to imagine.

If you wish to read more about me and my art, follow the link below. Linda Scott Galok has written a wonderful feature that showcases many pieces of my work and details what it's like for me to live with bipolar disorder.